Dennis Wilson

I've spent the last day listening to the new 2-CD reissue of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's (only) solo album, 1977's Pacific Ocean Blue. Dennis, the only Beach Boy who actually surfed, slowly emerged as a competent songwriter in the wake of brother Brian's retreat from the world in the late 1960s. By 1970, he was writing at the caliber of "Forever", the highlight of the Beach Boys' essential album Sunflower. I mention Sunflower because it's often cited as a the last "great" Beach Boys record. In 1988, when Rolling Stone reviewed brother Brian's solo debut, they referred to it as "the best Beach Boys long player since 1970's Sunflower, although Wilson is the only Beach Boy on it." While I adore Brian's debut - a guilty pleasure that even my musically good-natured wife can't stand - I would argue that Rolling Stone did Dennis a disservice. Pacific Ocean Blue is a stronger record than Brian's, but it is even more forgotten, spending decades out of print aside from a blink-and-you'll-miss-it CD issue c. 1990.

Make no mistake, if you expect Pacific Ocean Blue (POB) to sound like the Beach Boys, you'll be disappointed. Back in the 1990s, when I first got interested in the Beach Boys, I managed to find a copy of the 1990 CD issue of POB, having already heard from fellow fans about this other Beach Boys "lost masterpiece". It was not at all what I expected. I expected songs like "Forever" and "Slip On Through" and "Got to Know the Woman"; instead, the album combines a hazy, drowsy, Southern California vibe with an excessive number of ballads and a hefty dose of overproduction. To top if off, Dennis' voice - never the sweetest, to be sure - is gruff and even gravelly throughout. "In The Back of My Mind" this is not. I played the disc a few times and sold it to a fellow fan at a decent profit.

But, like every good collector, I couldn't resist a "deluxe" repackaging, and I'd like to think my musical tastes have broadened in the last decade-plus. So I was happy to get POB as a late birthday present earlier this week (since Sony couldn't be bothered to release it a month ago, closer to my birthday). And I'm happy to report that, yes, my musical tastes have broadened. POB still sounds overproduced and drowsy, but perhaps I'm a bit more patient this time; I can hear the melodies and appreciate the often-complex arrangements, and it's uniformly enjoyable. While Wilson still seems to rely too heavily on ballads and keyboards, he knows how to build a song up from virtually nothing to a mountain of rhythm, emotion, and bombast (see "River Song", "Thoughts Of You", etc.). There are just enough jaunty numbers to keep less attentive listeners engaged ("What's Wrong", the title track). Great engineering and production - making full use of the stereo spectrum - give the entire disc a wide-open sound that befits the Southern California vibe.

It reminds me in part's of John Phillip's solo debut, or even Gene Clark's No Other, both albums I've come to appreciate in the last few years.

Most importantly, POB works both track-by-track and as a coherent whole. It plays and feels like the work of a focused, productive psyche from beginning to end - something heard perhaps only once in the entire Beach Boys catalog, and definitely not after 1970. Not only is this perhaps the best Beach Boys(-related) record after Sunflower, it's arguably a superior album to Sunflower - no "This Whole World", sure, but also no "At My Window" or the overrated-by-associated-with-Smile "Cool Cool Water".

(Incidentally, this reissue includes a number of unused tracks recorded during the POB sessions, as well as over a dozen tracks recorded in the two year period following POB, when Dennis was working on a never-finished record tentatively titled Bambu. While many of these tracks are clearly unfinished - sometimes lacking vocals, for example - there are many great ideas germinating in here, like the beautiful "Album Tag Song" or "Love Remember Me". A very listenable second disc).